Afghanistan Crisis HIGHLIGHTS: Taliban Condemn Kabul Airport Blasts, Suspect IS Role Behind Attack
Afghanistan Taliban Crisis LIVE: For all the latest developments in the Afghanistan-Taliban crisis and the situation created around it follow ABP News LIVE blog to stay updated.
A US official says several Marines were killed and a number of other American military were wounded Thursday in an attack on Kabul's airport. US officials have said that information is still coming in and they are trying to determine the exact numbers of casualties.
Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. At least 13 people were killed and 15 wounded, Russian officials said.
Several Marines were killed and a number of other American military were wounded, a U.S. official said. It was not clear if those deaths were included in the Russian toll.
The Taliban have condemned the attack outside Kabul's airport, saying it occurred in an area controlled by US forces. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says his group strongly condemns Thursday's attack and is paying close attention to security.
The attack was believed to be carried out by Afghanistan's Islamic State group affiliate, which is separate from and more radical than the Taliban.
A suspected suicide bomb exploded outside Kabul airport, killing at least 13 people including children, a Taliban official said, after the United States and allies urged Afghans to leave the area because of a threat by Islamic State, news agency Reuters reported.
An American official told Reuters that US service members are among those injured. "Up to 3 US troops may have been injured," the official said citing initial information.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Defence Ministry says there were two explosions outside, no damage to Turkish units occurred.
Ottawa (ANI): Canada has ended airlifts from war-ravaged Afghanistan on Thursday, said acting chief of the defence staff General Wayne Eyre. The Immigration Department sent a notice this morning read that evacuation operations are done and "at this time, no further evacuation flights are being planned", reported Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
"The government of Canada recognises that there are a number of people in Afghanistan including Canadian citizens, permanent residents, their families, and applicants under programs for Afghans," said the notice sent to all on the government's list, CBC added. General Wayne Eyre said that most of the Canadians left the country eight hours ago although a small contingent is there to help allies.
"Until such a time that the security situation stabilises, be mindful of the security environment and where possible, take the necessary steps to ensure your security and that of your family," he added.
So far, Canada has evacuated more than 37,000 people in total from Afghanistan. Officials said on Thursday that they received applications from nearly 8,000 people to come to Canada. Nearly two-thirds of those applications have been processed.
On Wednesday, the Danish air force also finished flights out of Kabul, and evacuated over 1,000 people since the Taliban took over, the Danish Defense Ministry said "The last Danish Hercules plane has taken off from Kabul.
Since August 15, the Danish air force has taken more than 1,000 people out of Afghanistan," the ministry said. On August 15, Afghanistan fell under the control of the Taliban, prompting many countries to begin evacuating their citizens and diplomats, as well as limited numbers of local collaborators. Thousands of people have stormed the Kabul airport in the hope of getting out.
An explosion was reported at the Hamid Karzai International Airport on Thursday, according to two US officials, CNN reported.
One official said there are injuries among Afghans, but there is no information yet on any US casualties, it added.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby confirmed there was an explosion outside of the airport. "We can confirm an explosion outside Kabul airport. Casualties are unclear at this time. We will provide additional details when we can," he wrote in a tweet.
Brussels (ANI/Sputnik): EU member states should come up with safe legal pathways for people who are particularly at risk, such as female judges and human rights activists, to travel from militant-controlled Afghanistan to Europe, Eric Mamer, the chief spokesman for the European Commission said on Thursday.
"We have a duty to help those who are particularly at risk in Afghanistan, be it before or after the deadline. These are ... for example, human rights activists, female judges and lawyers, journalists, educated women and their children. For these groups, the message is quite clearly that the EU is asking member states to offer safe pathways to Europe for them to be able to come," Mamer told a press briefing. The spokesman also said that NATO countries should be also involved in efforts to safely evacuate at-risk groups from Kabul.
"We are also going to work with countries in the region so internally displaced people can safely go back to their homes in Afghanistan," the official added. After the Taliban (designated terrorist by the UN and Russia) came to power in Afghanistan on August 15, many countries began evacuating their citizens and Afghans who had worked for international missions, from the Central Asian country through the only airport in Kabul, which is held by the military of the allied forces.
Foreign troops are under pressure to meet the August 31 deadline for exiting the country, as the Taliban warned earlier this week that they would not allow departures after the indicated date. The group, however, pledged safety to all those currently trying to leave the country.
From August 25 at 3 am EDT to August 26 at 3 am EDT, a total of approximately 13,400 people were evacuated from Afghanistan. 17 US military flights (14 C-17s & 3 C-130s) evacuated approximately 5,100 people from Kabul: White House Official stated, as reported by ANI.
In addition, 74 coalition aircraft evacuated approximately 8,300 people. Since August 14, the US has evacuated & facilitated the evacuation of approximately 95,700 people. Since the end of July, we have re-located approximately 101,300 people, the official informed.
The press release noted that Ahmadullah Wasiq, deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission, pledged that they had taken the matter of assault on TOLOnews journalist seriously and had shared it with the Kabul police chief for investigation.
"So far over 400 people (from Afghanistan) have been brought on flights. We've made arrangements at all airports - be it civil airports or military airbases - to administer anti-polio vaccine to them because Pakistan & Afghanistan have wild polio": Union Health Secy Rajesh Bhushan said, as quoted by ANI.
"We've arranged for RT-PCR tests for the people. Some tested positive & they've been isolated. Some people hospitalised. Many people have been quarantined at Chhawla ITBP camp, they'll be there for 14 days. In view of their symptoms, further decision will be taken," he added.
New Delhi (IANS): The Indian Air Force (IAF) plane, C-17 Globemaster carrying 35 evacuees from Kabul, landed at the Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad on Thursday.
The 35 evacuees comprised 24 Indian and 11 Nepali nationals.
All the evacuees will be taken by ITBP buses from the airport to a quarantine centre at Chhawala.
India has continued the air rescue operation, named as Ops Devi Shakti, from Kabul, as well as from other countries like Qatar and Tajikistan. Indian officials are making all round efforts to evacuate not only Indians but Afghan nationals too.
The operation was announced by the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on August 24.
A Special Afghan Cell was set up on August 16 to coordinate repatriation and other requests from Afghanistan in a streamlined manner, Jaishankar in an all party meet held on Thursday.
As per evacuation data shared by Jaishankar, a total of 175 embassy personnel 263 other Indian nationals, 112 Afghan nationals including Hindus and Sikhs, 15 third country nationals have been evacuated so far.
He said that a total of 565 persons have been evacuated so far.
The Central government has also facilitated the evacuation of Indians by other agencies.
These evacuees have been brought to New Delhi from various routes such as Doha in Qatar, Dushanbe in Tajikistan and other neighbouring countries in special flights of Air India and some private carrier too.
We briefed the Floor Leaders of all political parties today on the Afghanistan situation today. Our focus is on evacuation and the government is doing everything to evacuate people: EAM Dr. S Jaishankar.
Under Operation 'Devi Shakti' we've done 6 evacuation flights. We'v brought back most of the Indians but not all of them as some of them couldn't make it for the flight y'day. We'll definitely try & bring out everybody. We've also brought out some Afghan citizens: Dr S Jaishankar added.
The government is very strongly committed to ensuring full evacuation as soon as possible, and also seeing that in terms of any international decisions which are made, any gatherings that are there, that our role is recognized. There will be many more meetings in coming days: EAM informed, as quoted by ANI.
French prime minister Jean Castex says France will no longer be able to evacuate people from Kabul airport after Friday night, reports AP.
Despite multiple warnings by the US and UK governments, asking its citizen to vacate the Kabul Airport premise on the pretense of a "terrorist attack" in the vicinity, people flocked at the airport.
Now a British Minister has said, the terrorist threats against Kabul airport are 'very serious' and 'imminent', as reported by AFP.
AFP reports, huge crowds can be seen at the Kabul airport as some foreign nations cease flights ahead of Tuesday's US deadline to end the evacuations.
Meanwhile, Western officials informed that the Taliban has made assurances that evacuations will be permitted as per the agreements.
On the overall situation of Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar briefs all-party panel in Parliament Annexe.
It is being reported that TOLOnews reporter Ziar Yad and his cameraman were beaten by the Taliban for unknown reasons. The TOLOnews reporter was doing a ground report on poverty and unemployment at the Haji Yaqub intersection in Kabul.
Ziar Yad says the Taliban took all their clippings with them after they thrashed the journalists. "When we were taking pictures, the Taliban came and without asking us who they were, they made a noise and took my mobile phone. They beat us with a shotgun," he said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the administration believes about 1,500 American citizens still remain in Afghanistan as the evacuation process nears the deadline. Blinken at a news conference Wednesday said, that another 4,500 Americans have been evacuated in a US-run, round-the-clock operation since the Taliban reached the capital Kabul.
After US Embassy's warning to its citizen to vacate Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport premises a flurry of near-identical travel warnings have been issued from London and Canberra.
AFP reports that western countries with their citizens still holed in Afghanistan have urged people gathered near the Kabul Airport area to vacate and move to a safe location due to a "very high threat of terrorist attack".
It is being reported that the Taliban will continue to allow Afghans, who have the right documents, to leave the country after the US withdrawal deadline of August 31.
German Ambassador to Afghanistan Markus Potzel said on Twitter, he met with Taliban deputy chief negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, who "assured me that Afghans with legal documents will continue to have the opportunity to travel on commercial flights after 31 August".
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will brief parliamentary leaders of various political parties today on the developments in Afghanistan today. The briefing is scheduled to take place at 11 am in the Parliament House Annexe.
The briefing is to focus on India’s evacuation plan and ongoing from Afghanistan as well as its assessment of the overall situation in that country.
US State Department has warned US citizens at the gates outside of the airport in Kabul to leave "immediately" due to threats.
"US citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately," a security alert from the US Embassy in Kabul said.
"We are advising US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport & to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a US govt representative to do so," US Embassy in Kabul said as reported by ANI.
Background
Afghanistan Taliban Crisis LIVE: Even as the Taliban prepares to rule the Pashtun country again, the rest of the world is putting in all efforts to evacuate its people on priority.
After much back and forth, August 31 has been set as the deadline by when the Taliban wants the US to evacuate all its people.
The US’ Afghanistan evacuation operations are going on in full swing, with nearly 6,000 American troops deployed at the international airport in capital Kabul and US flights leaving every 45 minutes.
The Joe Biden administration has said more than 80,700 people had been evacuated as of Wednesday, since the Afghan government fell on August 14.
Several other countries also have their own evacuation operation going on in Kabul. India, for example, has so far evacuated more than 800 people since the Taliban seized power, with multiple air missions flying Indians and others out of Kabul.
The complex mission to evacuate Indian citizens and Afghan partners from Kabul after its swift takeover by the Taliban has been named "Operation Devi Shakti".
Turkey, France, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, and Switzerland are also carrying out evacuations from the Pashtun land.
The scale of the evacuation effort by the US, which had been involved in a war in Afghanistan for the last 20 years, employing thousands of local residents who are now eligible for special visas, is definitely much bigger.
Over the last two decades of the war, many Afghans had worked with the US military and embassy as interpreters, advisers, and in other capacities. All these people and their families are eligible for special visas, and they are all desperate to leave fearing retribution from the Taliban.
Even as the deadline for the complete pullout is August 31, the US has not said how many such people are still in Afghanistan and need to be flown out.
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